JD.com has partnered with the world’s leading international pediatric nutrition company, Mead Johnson, on a new market development strategy to bring a wide range of infant formulas to consumers in the nation’s emerging urban areas. A response to the shift in consumption habits of Chinese consumers for maternal and baby products to focus on product quality, the new collaboration announced today will make it even easier for maternal and baby store owners in China’s growing smaller cities to supply their consumers with high-quality infant formula from Mead Johnson Nutrition’s world-leading brands.

To facilitate this partnership, JD has developed an easy-to-use mobile internet program through which store owners can place orders for Mead Johnson products. Maternal and baby goods will be delivered within 48 hours directly from JD’s warehouses via the company’s in-house nationwide logistics network. The vertical integration will significantly shorten the delivery lead time and help store owners better manage their inventory. In addition to making it easier for brands to supply their stores, Mead Johnson can analyze the data from the platform to better understand consumption trends for their products and ultimately their end consumers, long a challenge for traditional chain stores. Mead Johnson will also be able to leverage the platform to engage in direct marketing activities and offer shop owners coupons and special promotions.

“With the help of JD’s innovative smart supply chain and in-house logistics resources, a greater number of consumers in China’s emerging urban areas will have more reliable access to our high-quality products,” said Enda Ryan, CEO of Greater China of Mead Johnson. “This cooperation will also help us gain a better understanding of the needs and behaviors of our consumers throughout China.”

“This is a great opportunity for us to deepen our cooperation with Mead Johnson,” said Xiaosong Wang, President of JD Fast Moving Consumer Goods and Foods. “Leveraging our resources to bring high-quality brands like the Mead Johnson family of products to consumers across China is at the heart of our Retail as a Service vision. With growing demand for these products as Chinese parents are having more children, we look forward to deploying the full range of JD’s strengths in technology, marketing and logistics to help our partners meet this demand.”

Going forward, JD will work on providing partnering offline stores with a powerful and convenient inventory management system, while Mead Johnson will ramp up its presence in China’s emerging urban areas by employing professional promoters to help local store owners make the most of the partnership.